We need new quality jobs and careers, and we need a lot of them. We all know that is necessary to build a strong local economy. So, every time a warehouse is built, I ask myself will that provide these jobs and careers?

New warehouses do create both design and construction jobs in the first instance.

Many are built with money from outside Doncaster and sometimes outside the UK. That should be no surprise.

Doncaster is seen as the best small city in Europe in which to invest. We can all agree that external investment into Doncaster has to be a positive.

Warehouses are part of the supply chain and when considering a government project like Great British Railways (GBR) a rail industry supply chain does more than help our bid. And they create jobs, hundreds of jobs.

These new jobs include management, sales, logistics, packers, drivers, cleaners, technicians, canteen staff, the list goes on.

So when we see speculative builds it really can only increase my faith in the economic future for my city.

However, it is not all positives. This land that we have, or should I say the developers have, is only available to sell once. And once it’s gone, it’s gone, at least for a generation.

And herein lies the problem.

Look at what a factory the size of a modern unit used to employ back in the 60s and 70s. The Plant Works used to employ well in excess of 4,000 people. I think you’ll find that is around 400 today.

Why?

Automation and now artificial intelligence is why.

The onward march of progress. Even some skilled manual jobs will be automated over time.

So, I’m afraid the warehousing jobs are going to be so much easier to replace. A workforce in these warehouses over the next 10 years could easily be square routed.

That means 100 jobs becomes 10 and a 1,000 jobs becomes 33.

Now many of these larger companies are up-skilling.

Career paths await for the interested and I applaud this process of meritocracy. But what of the ones where they are not quite ready for that path, not quite mature enough, those in life not where they yet want to be?

These are my concerns. The mark of a civilised society is not how it treats its most able but the rest of us who are not so nimble.

What we really need in Doncaster is not warehouses. Doncaster needs manufacturing jobs and many, many apprentices.

We need skilled jobs. Proper skilled jobs that last a generation, not those that will not exist in ten years as they have been automated.

I have said many times Doncaster needs a strong local economy.

That must have solid foundations. You can’t build on sand.

The Bible taught us that. We need strong foundations for the future.

Hybrid Air Vehicles and the AMRC (University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre) are both set to invest in Doncaster. This will be with government help and funding.

I have been lobbying hard for funding for each of these since my election in December 2019.

Both of these will bring thousands of skilled jobs to Doncaster.

These are jobs and careers which will be resilient to the square root effect. Future proofed.

I never want to look a gift horse in the mouth but too much short termism and hoping for a quick buck may result in all our land sold to off to warehousing leaving no room for manufacturing. Zoning may be a solution.

Keep warehousing in principle away from the airport?

There will always be exceptions, but Junction 4 seems right for warehousing if we have to zone areas. I am open to listening and considering any other solutions.

I would like to open up a discussion and conversation about this. Let’s talk about it.

The future of Doncaster is important to us all and to our children and their children, and so on.

Let’s make the right decisions for them. Let’s do the right thing for the right reasons.

- Nick Fletcher is Conservative MP for Don Valley.

Doncaster needs new quality jobs and careers, not just warehouses - Nick Fletcher MP